Waukegan alderman wants to issue parking tickets

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Harold Beadling

Updated: March 2, 2012 8:16AM

Concerns about liability and conflicts of interest were aired Monday as the possibility of Waukegan aldermen issuing parking tickets was discussed.

It is a concept that one proponent said would assist a police department affected by layoffs over the past two years.

“I just want to help out,” said 4th Ward Ald. Harold Beadling to members of the judiciary committee. Pointing out that “most of the parking meters are in my ward,” Beadling sought permission to patrol areas like the lakefront Metra station and Genesee Street north of Washington Street.

Eighth Ward Ald. William Valko, a retired Waukegan police officer, acknowledged that “we’re short of officers and they can’t be everywhere at once,” but he expressed concern about the public’s reaction to tickets issued by someone other than uniformed personnel.

“If I’m in civilian clothes and slapping a ticket on a windshield, how the hell do they know who I am?” Valko said. “If there’s two or three of them and they’ve had a few drinks, I’m in trouble. ... If they’ve had a bad day, guess who they’re going to take it out on?”

Valko added that he’s concerned about the city’s liability if an alderman “gets jumped and is in the hospital for a week” while performing the business of ticketing. Beadling responded that he would sign a waiver if necessary, and noted that injury concerns don’t prevent aldermen from working their wards in traditional capacities.

Third Ward Ald. Gregory Moisio offered a different concern, saying “it could be a slippery slope” to have aldermen both enacting laws and enforcing them.

“I understand the intention, (but) I think it muddies the waters. I’m a legislator, not an enforcer,” said Moisio, describing a scenario where an alderman is accused of “(giving) somebody a ticket because they didn’t vote for you. Some crackpot gets up here, and we’re paying lawyers again.”

City Clerk Wayne Motley weighed in by saying that both he and employees in his office have “been writing tickets for the last five years by authority of the chief of police. I’ve written 38 to 40 tickets a day myself.” He added that the train station is one particular location he targets for scofflaws, saying the area is usually very quiet during the day and doesn’t strike him as ripe for confrontation with the public.

Corporation Counsel Newton Finn noted that Waukegan, as a home-rule community, could enact an ordinance allowing non-officers to issue citations that would be adjudicated in city court. He noted that alderman in Cicero were authorized to write parking tickets, a practice that went on the books in April 2010.

While no formal action was taken Monday by the judiciary committee, 7th Ward Ald. Lisa May, the committee’s chair, asked Finn to provide a written report for consideration.